I went to this run of shows and what a great time we all had (big surprise there). But we were all amazed and awestruck at the Quinn. We had never heard it before. "What is this sound?! What are these words?!" Oh my god, it's Dylan's Quinn the Eskimo!" Yaa.. it was a good time.
I'd give it five stars but I didn't re-listen to the whole show so maybe the rest isn't as stellar. Stellar Blue?

That about sums it up.

Pulled into town after driving up from LA with my brother after flying in from Boston. Parked the car, ate some paper with a beer in some workingman's bar, called home to learn our older brother had just gotten engaged, called the mother of a friend's friend who picked us up in her big blue bomber, brought us to Hamburger Mary's (didn't eat much, but shuuure pretty to look around!)and then a driving tour of the city including a walk up some hill (not twin peaks and not Tank hill - never found it again even though I moved to SF the next spring) and then a trip to the ocean as night came on (I stripped down and danced in the waves much to their amusement) forgot my boots at the beach, went back and found my boots at the beach, camped in the redwoods north of the city, slept late, found a little hotel in the Lombard area, hung out, drove to show in Oakland, scored some paper, ate it, went to the show, decided to close eyes for entire second set, succeeded (nothing happened - don't ever miss half of a sound and light extravagnza - my bother saw the heads of people across the staduim turn into yellow and red balloons and float to the ceiling) started to drive home, almost drove wrong way onto freeway - with every other car following me - did a quick dipsy doo and swung through the mess onto the correct ramp, exited freeway and got lost, asked some cops for directions to SF, said "all right, thanks again" before they finished telling me and then, so my brother tells me, drove in the exact opposite direction they told me to, crossed the 20 mile long undulating Bay Bridge, parked AS SOON AS hit the streets - wrong way, got ticket, walked to motel, went for walk, got lost, got propositioned by a tranny,started to crash, friend's friend's mom to the rescue, took a shower, brother found car, brother found me, drove back to East Coast, told mother "I'm moving to San Francisio, " and did four months later!

The 1st set is good but the 2nd set is where it get's special. The entire 2nd set is special, especially the Crazy Fingers, this version has been my favorite version since I first got the tape in 1985. The Sugar Maggs and SSDD are rockin! This is a must have for you collection

First set decent--second set a must have. Best Crazy Fingers I've ever seen or heard. Solo in the middle is perfect, totally spacey. Jam at the end keeps on going and going; Jerry just doesn't want to put down his guitar. Also tightest sounding Quinn you'll ever hear. They never nailed it quite like this again. He's Gone Xcellent as well.

awesome show........my first Cali show .first Quinn ever.very hot

The highlights of this show are Quinn and He's Gone. Although this is a SBD I don't find the sound to be particularly great, at least compared to several of the other shows that I've downladed from this site. IMHO the first set sounds relatively uninspired. Just download He's gone and Quinn.

Great performances in the mid-to-late 80's were few and far between, relative to the previous decade. But this is one of the great ones. The second set is a fine place to begin. Garcia is right on top of every note in Mighty Quinn, bright and melodic. The clarity continues with He's Gone, which is wonderfully low-key and thoughtful. Miracle is kind of a rude interruption of the mood, but they are back to a more introspective quality with Crazy Fingers.
During this version, Garcia invents a four note motif that is truly moving, one of the handful of classical, Ode-To-Joy type themes he created during the course of his career (e.g. 1-22-78 inside St. S). He was capable of such tender and passionate playing. This leads to a sprightly drums, which starts loosely Egyptian.
Magnolia is terrific, a real rocker, with Garcia knowing precisely where he is going start to finish. He begins uniquely with a nice chord brush instead of notes. Sunshine Daydream comes around quickly, with some great power chords. Weir's vocals get the echo device, which really gets the crowd going. The encore is a soft yet impassioned Baby Blue, with another lucid solo from Garcia. Very sharp and clear sound. It's hard to find sustained great playing in this era, so this is a real treasure.

This 12/30 show was a personal highlight of my old XL2 collection. The quality of the archive version is super crisp and very well balanced. In particular, the crazy fingers>jam>drums is great as well as a very stretched out he's gone

great show. the very first and likely the very best "quinn the eskimo".great 2nd set full of well played standards. wharf rat
always was a favorite of mine. brent's vocals were so crucial
for certain songs. better than the following night's new years eve
show (IMHO)